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Sences from the film "Orpheus in Nazareth" produced by Alternate Focus
| Sences from the film "Orpheus in Nazareth" produced by Alternate Focus |
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I. Introduction a. Organization Background | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Orpheus concerns itself with music as a medium towards developing a more open society in Israel in general and in the Palestinian Arab community in particular. The philosopher Karl Popper characterized open societies by the value they place on the individual as the center of social activity. Open societies nurture the individual and ensure that social conditions engender individual development. Closed societies, on the other hand, place communities at the fore, often suppressing individual identity formation and growth. Such societies also tend to practice cultural isolationism; the music created therein is a reflection of this isolation. Literature, painting and sculpture in Renaissance Europe replaced God with man as the center of intellectual interest and intellectual life, a revolutionary transformation at the time. While in music this development transpired later on, it has since joined the other arts as a convention-breaker and catalyst of evolution, exhibited in its ability to build upon itself new musical languages and forms. Music has been at the heart of many historical changes, such as the Enlightenment in the 18th century in Europe and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Orpheus wishes to tap into the transformative power of music, witnessed the world-over, for promoting social change within Palestinian Arab society in Israel and Israeli society as a whole. Both Arab and Jewish societies in Israel tend to experience music as passive recipients of simple entertainment. Orpheus aims to highlight music's intellectual and philosophical dimensions, those which promote existential reflection regarding both self and society. Western classical music, over the course of centuries, has come to possess these dimensions in addition to the virtues of an open society: change and individuality. The result has been its global acceptance as a high art form. Conversely, modern Arab music is about eighty years old and still awaiting the breakthrough that will lead to its universality. Orpheus believes that introducing classical music to the Arab community will contribute to such a breakthrough. This will happen through its public introduction as an intellectually challenging art form and, second, by nurturing the society's emerging musical talent. This formula will lead Arab music in a new direction to be presented to the world. Finally, the introduction of foreign music into a culture makes the foreign culture and community less strange and less threatening. Presumably, introducing Arab music to the Jewish community in Israel as well as introducing Jewish music and Western classical music to the Palestinian Arab community in Israel will help in narrowing the gap between the two communities and in achieving mutual understanding. Orpheus' goals cannot be achieved without serious and broadly accessible music education; therefore Orpheus devotes a major portion of its work to bringing music to primary school students, also reaching the students' families. Children's musical talents are fostered through private instruction and their interest deepened through learning and listening about classical music. Children and parents alike learn to hear music through its multiple dimensions to more deeply appreciate the art.
b. The Palestinian Arab Community in Israel The war surrounding the establishment of the state broke the Palestinian Arab national identity that had developed over the preceding decades; community and culture as it had been known disappeared practically overnight. Personal and communal identity began gradually engraining itself more in religion than it had in the preceding period. Today national and religious identities each have its own unique role in social and political community life. After the war, prioritization was given not to identity development but rather the community's survival under the hardship of the Israeli military administration. The military administration ceased in 1966, but the racism and discrimination in public life has not. The consequences of these phenomena can be observed in the disproportionate levels of poverty, unemployment, and underdevelopment in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. �It�s better if there weren�t Arab students; if the Arabs had remained woodcutters, it would be easy to control them,� related Uri Lubrani, advisor to the Prime Minister for Arab Affairs in 1961. The actualization of this notion is observed in part in the neglect of Arab public education in Israel. Schools are lacking basic resources: qualified teachers, updated materials, and in some cases classrooms; extracurricular and enrichment activities are out of reach for most Arab students. In short, Arab youth are at a severe disadvantage in achieving educational excellence. While most e schools in Israel have some form of musical program, such subjects are given less importance and support. Most music programs are staffed by unqualified teachers and without instruments or music for the students to experience. The consequence is that few music students are Arab. In Israel�s music academies today only 3 Arab students are enrolled to study classical music. There are approximately 50 additional Arab students studying Oriental music.. Orpheus wishes to instill music education into the lives of youth in Israel in general, and Palestinian youth specifically, in order to enrich, encourage, empower and open them up towards distinguished achievements. Orpheus has begun bringing the knowledge, qualified teachers and material resources to Arab students and the community..
c. Goals & Objectives |
III. Work Plan: 2005 - 2006
IV. Management and Staffing |
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